An ABA‐serotonin module regulates root suberization and salinity tolerance

Abstract

Suberin in roots acts as a physical barrier preventing water/mineral losses. In Arabidopsis, root suberization is regulated by abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene in response to nutrient stresses. ABA also mediates coordination between microbiota and root endodermis in mineral nutrient homeostasis. However, it is not known whether this regulatory system is common to plants in general, and whether there are other key molecule(s) involved.We show that serotonin acts downstream of ABA in regulating suberization in rice and Arabidopsis and negatively regulates suberization in rice roots in response to salinity. We show that ABA represses transcription of the key gene (OsT5H) in serotonin biosynthesis, thus promoting root suberization in rice. Conversely, overexpression of OsT5H or supplementation with exogenous serotonin represses suberization and reduces tolerance to salt stress.These results identify an ABA-serotonin regulatory module controlling root suberization in rice and Arabidopsis, which is likely to represent a general mechanism as ABA and serotonin are ubiquitous in plants.These findings are of significant importance to breeding novel crop varieties that are resilient to abiotic stresses and developing strategies for production of suberin-rich roots to sequestrate more CO 2 , helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Quantitative Time-Course Analysis of Osmotic and Salt Stress inArabidopsis thalianausing Short Gradient Multi-CV FAIMSpro BoxCar DIA

“…In addition, we also found several aspects of metabolism to be altered. For example, we find a protein cluster related to suberin biosynthesis (Figure 5 C ), which is consistent with suberin being reported to prevent root water loss (46, 47). We also find phenylpropanoid biosynthetic proteins to be a large portion of Cluster 4 (Figure 5 C ), with their accumulation having been related to abiotic stress resistance in apple (48) and wheat (49).…”

Disruption of serotonin biosynthesis increases resistance to striped stem borer without changing innate defense response in rice

“…Recently, we found that serotonin is a negative regulator of salt tolerance in plants and OsT5H knockout could significantly increase tolerance to salinity. 72 The deficiency of serotonin in rice plants could have secondary effect on other organisms in the paddy ecosystem. In addition to the increased resistance to insect pests BPH and SSB, Arase et al 73 showed increased resistance to Magnaporthe grisea under light.…”

Characterizing the Mechanism of Serotonin Alleviates Rice Resistance to Brown Planthopper Nilaparvata lugens (Homoptera: Delphacidae) Nymphs

“…An increasing number of studies demonstrate that serotonin acts as a vital signaling molecule in modulating nearly all aspects of plant growth and development, such as seed formation, root growth and development, fruit ripening, and senescence [8,9,12]. In addition, the roles of serotonin in the plant response to several abiotic stresses such as UV-B stress, cold, salinity, drought, heavy metals, and thermal stress are also well characterized [9,[13][14][15][16].…”